2023 Edition Of Queer Film Festival Kashish: All You Need To Know

Queer representation in Indian cinema has been a topic of discussion and encouragement. Over time, there has been significant development in the treatment of queer characters in mainstream media. A celebration of this representation is Kashish, the annual queer film festival held in Mumbai. Here's all you need to know.

Kashish is a film festival held in Mumbai that screens films that represent stories of the LGBTQIA+ community. It has various movies and films from India as well as around the world that are presented to the viewers every year during Pride month. It was started in 2010 as an effort to raise awareness regarding the LGBTQIA+ community and encourage and improve their representation in India. This year will mark the 14th edition of the festival which will be held in hybrid in Mumbai and online.

Suggested Reading: Pride Month Special: 5 Indian Queer Characters That We Adore

Queer Film Festival Kashish

The team behind the festival includes Sridhar Rangayan, the director of the festival, Saagar Gupta programming director and the members of the advisory board include Dolly Thakore, Arunaraje Patil and Onir. This year, the jury panels have judges like Lillete Dubey, Nandan Saxena, Anup Soni, Shanti Bhushan Roy, Atika Chohan, Jitin Hingorani, Aanchal Kapoor, Samarth Mahajan and Rucha Pathak.

The festival will screen about 127 students shorts, narrative films and documentary films this year from 45 countries, the first being the Indian queer film Pine Cone by Onir which focuses on Indian gay relationships after the removal of IPC Section 377. Canadian film When Time Got Louder by Connie Couchia, which is based on queerness and disability, will mark the closing of the festival. There will be 27 Indian films that will be a part of the festival. The festival holds a special screening of one LGBTQ feature film every year. In 2022, it featured Badhaai Do and this year it will be Madhuri Dixit's Maja Ma.

This year, the festival will be held between June 7 to June 11 in offline mode. The movie screenings will be held in Mumbai's Liberty Cinema during June 7-11. They will also be screened at Alliance Française de Bombay from June 8-10. There will be an online screening of movies from June 16-25.

Photo credit: Posherry